To control user access to client software programs, it is common for software vendors to require that users obtain licenses before using the client software programs. To obtain a license, the user typically submits information to the software vendor via the software vendor's server. This information may include the user's email address, contact information, and payment information. The software vendor then stores the user's information in a database typically located on its server. The user must then maintain contact with the software vendor's server in order to run the client software program.
A common problem with conventional approaches is that the user information that designates whether the user should have access to the client software program is typically stored in a database on the server as noted above. In order for the user to access the client software program, the client software program sends a request to the server to verify whether the user should be allowed access to the program. Thus, every time the user attempts to access the client software program, the client software program must send a request to the server and wait for a response. As the number of users increases, the server becomes inundated with database requests causing significant delay and decreased performance.
In other conventional approaches, requests to the server database is limited by storing user information in a license file which is stored on the user's computer. In such approaches, the license file is cloaked with multiple levels of security protection to avoid any compromising of the license file. While such techniques limit access to the file, they also require the client software program to go through extensive levels of security to even read the file thereby delaying user access to the client software program.
An additional problem with the use of license files it that such files typically include a pre-determined expiration time. Thus, when the license file expires, the user is required to re-initiate contact with the server to “renew” his or her rights and to obtain a new license file.